Ben Affleck has revealed details of a job that he nearly derailed (Picture: ABC)
Ben Affleck may now be a Hollywood heavyweight, but he’s revealed he once had to tell a white lie to secure an acting job.
Back before he starred in Good Will Hunting, Pearl Harbor and Gone Girl, one of Ben’s first roles was in a commercial for Burger King when he was a teenager.
However, he’s now revealed that the 1989 job was very nearly a total disaster.
Appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show on Friday, the audience was treated to a replay of the advertisement, which was made when he was just 17.
After the audience applauded it, Ben, 50, joked that if he knew the commercial would get that response, ‘I would have been much more optimistic about my career’.
‘I don’t remember (a) similar enthusiasm at the time. My director almost fired me and now I can see why,’ he explained on the talk show.
The commercial sees a young woman trying to place an order at Burger King, but accidentally dialling Ben’s character’s car phone number.
Playing along, he drives to the fast-food restaurant, orders what she asked for and drops it off on her front porch.
However before they can meet, his dad calls the car phone and he rushes back to the car to take the call.
‘There was a car in the commercial and I had to drive,’ Ben continued his story.
‘They’re always worried about actors driving.’
Ben shared the story when appearing on The Drew Barrymore Show (Picture: CBS)
While the director had asked Ben if he could drive, it turns out he told a little white lie.
‘Yeah, yeah, I know how to drive,’ he answered, to which the director responded, ‘Are you sure?’
‘Guys, I’ve driven like 500 or 1,000 miles,’ Ben recalled saying at the time.
Making a few wide turns in the ad, Ben managed to avoid hitting any props or people, but said it took multiple takes.
‘I also remember being like, “I don’t know why this director keeps making me do it over and over again”,’ he said.
‘And now looking at the performance, I have a better idea.’
Ben appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for Dunkin’ Donuts earlier this year (Picture: YouTube)
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Decades later Ben again was cast in a fast-food commercial, this year appearing in a Super Bowl one for Dunkin’ Donuts.
In it he acts as an employee working the drive though, and is soon met by a customer, played by his wife Jennifer Lopez.
The Drew Barrymore Show airs on CBS in the US.
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